Jon Cupp pours a tasting of chardonnay at The Thirsty Owl's newest location in Saratoga Springs. The winery is based in the Finger Lakes region.
(ERICA MILLER/emiller@saratogian.com)

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- The Cupps seemed destined for the Spa City.

The family patriarch, Ted Cupp, owned and raced horses at the local harness track for years and said he and his family have visited the city for the last 30 years to "watch the ponies run."

Ten years ago, the Cupps sold off the majority of their racehorses -- he said he still has one mare -- to raise another Spa City staple: wine.

A decade on, The Thirsty Owl Wine Co. is thriving on Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region and the Cupps are making the jump to Saratoga Springs.

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By mid-month, The Thirsty Owl will open its new Lincoln Avenue wine shop and bar in the former, recently remodeled Kimberly Inn.

Inside, The Thirsty Owl's tasting room, with high ceilings, is adorned with lights hung from wine bottles and portrait photos of the vineyard.

"It's all produced right there," Ted Cupp said, pointing to an aerial shot of the 150 acres of grape vines, the barns where the wine is produced and bottled and "that's my little house there," a white home surrounded by vines.

All of the grapes that have been pressed, fermented, bottled and sent to the winery's Lincoln Avenue location were produced in the Cupps' vineyards or by their friends in the Finger Lakes region.

"It we don't grow it, it's our neighbors who grow it," said Jon Cupp, the son in charge of the vineyard.

Pouring samples of their riesling, pinot noir and pinot grigio, Jon explained the particular environmental conditions that allow the Finger Lakes winery to produce the popular "aromatic whites."

He said the combination of "degree days" -- days in which temperatures are ideal for grape growing -- and cool nights make more "ripe fruit" and allow the wines to mature in the bottle. Whatever the chemical and environmental influences, many of their 22 varieties -- which range from $9 to $40 a bottle -- have won regional, national and international awards.

When his father mentioned the horses and socio-economic conditions that make Saratoga Springs perfect for their wine bar, Jon explained how it will help their burgeoning brand grow farther than it has before.

"You folks have a lot of visitors from the New England states, which will help us in those areas we've always been eying," he said.

But in the end, Ted Cupp said "we've always enjoyed Saratoga. It's a nice place to come to."

And with the new building, the Cupps will have a place to rest when they visit because the second floor of the wine bar and shop is not only office space, but an apartment.

Beginning in May, The Thirsty Owl will offer food in addition to wine. And for warmer weather, the Cupps built a deck along the front of the building, something Ted Cupp said was on the building years ago.

But the former Kimberly Inn was far from its heyday when the Cupps came to town.

"It went from an eyesore to something the city can be proud of," Ted Cupp said in the tasting room. "I'm pretty proud of it."

Cupp's other son, Josh, will run the Spa City Thirsty Owl and the Cupps say it will have an upbeat atmosphere.

"We like to enjoy wine and enjoy people," Ted Cupp said, as opposed to some wineries that he said can be overly formal.

On Cayuga Lake, he said, word of mouth has brought much of their business from restaurants and people who refer them to their tasting room there "because they know they'll have a good time.